Dicraeosaurus
Name:
Dicraeosaurus
(Double forked lizard).
Phonetic: Die-cray-oh-sore-us.
Named By: Werner Janensch - 1914.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Dinosauria,
Saurischia, Sauropodomorpha, Diplodocoidea, Dicraeosauridae.
Species: D. hansemanni (type),
D.sattleri.
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: 12 meters long.
Known locations: Tanzania.
Time period: Late Jurassic.
Fossil representation: Remains for the
identification of two species.
Dicraeosaurus
was relatively small by sauropod
standards, but was still a bit
larger than Amargasaurus,
so far the only other known member of its
group. Dicraeosaurus sported a double row of
spines down its back
that are similar to those seen on the back of Amargasaurus.
We
cannot be certain what these spike were for but it’s possible that
they could have been there so that Dicraeosaurus
could recognise others
of its own species, or that they were a form of defence to make it
harder for tall theropods to bite down onto the back. It is also
possible that they may have been the supports for a sail, so far no
one can say for absolutely certain.
Dicraeosaurus
would have shared its habitat with the stegosaurid Kentrosaurus
and the
brachiosaurid Giraffatitan,
fossils for which are known from the
area. Each one of these would have fulfilled a particular niche so
that they did not starve each other of food, and similar systems can
be seen in other parts of the globe such as western North America with
the presence of Brachiosaurus,
Diplodocus
and Stegosaurus
all in the
same ecosystem at the end of the Jurassic.
Further reading
- �bersicht �ber die Wirbeltierfauna der Tendaguru-Schichten [Overview
of the vertebrate fauna of the Tendaguru beds]. Archiv f�r Biontologie
3:81-110 - Werner Janensch - 1914.
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